Friday, June 14, 2013

Baby Food Fridays Series - The Great Solid Food Debate

As many of
you may already know, there is quite the debate in the parenting community over
when it is safe to start feeding your baby solid foods. I found out the hard
way several months ago that some people get pretty riled up about this topic.
From my experience, there seems to be three main groups people fall into,
though everyone is different, of course.

The first
group are those who start feeding their baby solid foods around 4 months of
age. While some parents do this simply because they feel their child is ready,
there are some doctors who still recommend this age to start baby on oatmeal,
rice cereal, etc. Some people, however, argue that babies’ digestive systems
are not fully developed yet by this point and therefore shouldn’t be eating
anything other than formula and/or breast milk.

The second
group consists of parents who start feeding their baby “real” food around 6
months of age. Many people feel that their children’s sensitive tummies are
developed well enough by this point to handle solid food. From my personal
experience, this seems to be the most common “group”. Most of the websites and
books I have looked at on what and when to start feeding baby solid food have 6
months as a jumping off point. Does this mean it’s the correct, appropriate
age? Not necessarily. We’ll go more into that in a minute.

Finally,
parents who wait until their children are around 9 months of age make up the
third group. Again, just from my experience, these tend to be “crunchier”
mamas. If you’re not sure what crunchy means in this instance, check out this link. Most crunchy moms
are more concerned about exclusively breast-feeding and baby led weaning, hence
not giving their children real food until they are older babies. Even then, a
lot of them like to cut up regular food into small pieces and let baby eat it
that way instead of making purees like most parents are accustomed to nowadays.

If you’re
anything like me as a first time mom, you enjoy researching baby-related
topics, such as this. However, it can also become extremely overwhelming with
the amount of information that is available on the internet. This may seem kind
of obvious or stupid, but keep a few things in mind. Remember, just because it’s
on the internet doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s true! While websites with
forums, such as babycenter, can be great for connecting with other like-minded
parents and gaining helpful tips, everyone is different. What works for one
person with his/her children may not work for you!

Also, while
I’m not telling you to blatantly disregard your pediatrician’s suggestions,
just because he/she is a doctor doesn’t always mean they know what’s best for
your child. You alone know that. Use common sense. Trust your instincts. If you
ever have any doubts or concerns, DISCUSS it with your doctor. In my opinion,
all babies should not be “prescribed” the same set age for beginning solid
foods. Some babies are ready sooner than others.

In case
you’re wondering what group I fall into, the answer is somewhere between the
first and second. It’s funny looking back a few years ago when I babysat a
couple of young boys and think about how I felt about the then 6 month old
eating solid food. At the time I thought, “He seems way too young to be eating
solid food!” Fast forward 3 years later and my now 8 month old daughter has
been eating solid food for several months. Funny how your attitudes and
opinions chance when it’s your OWN child, isn’t it?

Being the
overly paranoid first time mom that I was/am, I followed our pediatrician’s
suggestion and started trying to feed Myka whole grain rice cereal around the
time she was 4 months old. As it turns out, I had confused her general
curiosity for her being curious in my food, which is said to be a sign babies
are ready to try solid food. I thought she was ready to eat! (Wishful
thinking.) So, we would try a few times per week, some weeks not at all, until
she was about 6 months old. Basically, the opportunity was there for her, but
we didn’t force her to eat it.

As of
today, Myka has tried all kinds of fruits and veggies, even beets! (Some people
would probably argue that she’s still too young for those, too.) Just like
anyone, she has her favorites, ones she will tolerate, and ones that, if she
could speak, would probably tell me she never wants to eat ever again. I still
try to get her to eat some of the ones she doesn’t care for as much every now
and then, but I don’t force her to eat all of it. Maybe just a few bites. ;) I
just hope she isn’t as picky of an eater as I am and that us feeding her
healthy food will rub off on us as well!

I’m
curious: Where do YOU stand in the debate? Are you a hardcore believer in
waiting until 9 months to feed your child real food, or do you fall somewhere
in between groups? Did you puree food for your little ones or did you wait
until they were able to eat tiny, bite-sized, finger food? Did you follow the
“normal routine” as far as introducing veggies first, then fruits, etc. or did
you perhaps feed meat to your baby as one of their first foods? I’d love to
hear from you in the comments section below! (Remember: Every parent is
different and every child is different. Let’s be civilized about this
discussion, please. Thanks!)

6 comments:

Honestly, I was excited to give my babies solid food. Silly, I know. But when I expressed a desire to wait until closer to 6 months with my oldest my pediatrician disagreed. I ended up giving in and giving her solids at just before 5 months. With my second baby, she got solids right at 4 months. I totally understand and respect all the reasons to delay solids (although I personally know lots who had problems trying to introduced them closer to 12 months), I just didn't do it.

I too have read through all the forums and such searching for the "right" answer. Well, when I didn't find what I was looking for, I started feeding my babe purees at 4 months old. Not rice cereal, because I read that it is not the "ideal first food" that it used to be. The best thing I think we can do as moms is just support each other, maybe providing knowledge or insight but never being judgmental. I think that in the scheme of raising a child into a well adjusted adult, there are going to be a lot more decisions to make than which month to start solid food. I think our babies are going to turn out great :)

That was one of the reasons I didn't really care if Myka ate all that much cereal since it's said to not be such a great first food, like you said. Plus, after tasting it, I wouldn't want to eat it either. lol

I started feeding my little one purees around 4 months, although looking back I'm not sure he was ready. We did go very slowly since he gagged a lot (maybe trying purees every other day or so, just once a day in small amounts). Of course, right when he turned 6 months the recommendations changed to 6 months - go figure. I think if you follow your child's lead and do what seems natural that's a good way to go.

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About Me

Hi! I'm just your average mom. I enjoy reading, doing crafty things, and doing just about anything outdoors; I even like yard work! My family and I are living the dream and getting our homestead/farm started. I like to blog about our random farm projects, homeschooling, and an array of parenting and semi-crunchy topics.